A Divided Country
  • The problems started to emerge during the 50s. The island was home to a lot of Turks stemming back to the centuries of Turkish rule, but about 80% of the population was of Greek descent. The country was a British colony but as colonialism was falling apart all across the world, these Greek Cypriots wanted to put an end to the British rule and make the country part of Greece (just like Crete had done a few years earlier), but the Turkish Cypriots didn’t quite agree and instead desired for the island to be divided in two.
  • By the year 1955, the Greek Cypriots turned violent, but before the conflict could escalate into a real civil war, both Turkey and Greece got together and struck a complicated deal which would see Cyprus become independent. This involved a parliament in which the 20% Turkish Cypriot population would be slightly overrepresented in return for having a Greek Cypriot President. Even if the deal could work the population didn't agree with this division, by 1963 inter-communal fighting broke out. As a minority the Turkish Cypriots were hardly threatened which made the Turkish power become more implied in the conflict threatening to intervene personally if an agreement couldn't be reached, from that point, it became an issue that the rest of the world could no longer ignore.
  • It wasn’t the political situation of Cyprus itself that made the issue important, though. Instead, it was the fact that two countries that both belonged to the Western alliance of NATO (Turkey and Greece) were about to throw themselves into a full-out war, a possibility that was unacceptable in the middle of the Cold War. Cyprus didn’t want NATO itself to get involved, however, so soon eyes were cast at the United Nations. There were some minor objections here, but since a peacekeeping mission in the end suited everyone’s interests the best because the alternatives were a lot worse, the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted the mission UNFICYP (United Nations Force in Cyprus) in March 1964.[1]
  • Economic differences between the two sides of the “Green Line” are huge. Greek Cyprus has developed rapidly as an independent country and as a member of the European Union, while Turkish Cyprus is almost wholly dependent on the support by Turkey. Cyprus is famous for its tourist attractions, but that too only goes for the Greek part, with Turkish Cypriot airports not being used by the EU and over 80% of the Northern Republic’s tourism coming from Turkey itself. Still, even in Turkish Cyprus it isn’t all bad. GDP has been rising rapidly over the past few years and it is now only three-quarters of GDP in Greek Cyprus, although that may in part have been caused by the major recession that struck Greece and which has forced Greek Cyprus to accept an EU bailout in 2013 that is similar to the one Greece received several years previous.[2]

[1]http://www.kyranarcher.com/the-political-situation-of-cyprus-conflict-and-division/
[2]http://www.cyprusprofile.com/en/country-information/politics
International Relations
  • Cyprus joined the EU on 1 May 2004 together with nine other European countries. Under the terms of its accession the entire island is considered technically to be a member of the European Union, despite its continued division and the fact that the government of the republic has no effective authority in the northern part of the island. However, the terms of the acquis communautaire, the EU’s body of laws, have been suspended in the north. 
  • Cyprus has historically followed a non-aligned foreign policy, although it increasingly identifies with the West in its cultural affinities and trade patterns, and maintains close relations with Greece. Turkey refuses to recognise the government of the Republic of Cyprus, arguing that the latter – as established by the Constitution of 1960 – ceased to exist when the inter-communal violence that broke out in December 1963 ended Turkish Cypriot participation in government. As a result, Turkey still refuses to allow Cypriot-flagged vessels access to its ports, despite pressure from the European Union. Cyprus is a member of the United Nations and most of its agencies, as well as the Commonwealth of Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund and Council of Europe. In addition, the country has signed the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency Agreement (MIGA).
  • Relations with Russia: Cyprus is officially the third largest foreign investor in the Russian economy; most of foreign direct investments from Cyprus are in fact, Russian capitals hidden offshore for tax and legal protection purposes.[3] The cooperation with other Russian regions -Tatarstan, St.Petersburg, Krasnodar Region develops steadily. On March 22, 2005 the Memorandum on Cooperation between the Ministry of Trade and Economic Cooperation of the Republic of Tatarstan and the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism of the Republic of Cyprus was signed.
    The unilateral decision by the European Union in March 2013 imposing a levy on Cypriot bank accounts to finance its bailout fund was angrily received by representatives of the Russian State[4]. Based on previous negotiations with the EU, it was expected that Russia extends its five-year loan obligations towards Cyprus but the recent EU fiscal regulations, which heavily weigh on Russian assets in Cyprus, will likely affect Moscow’s decision on restructuring its loan to the island nation.(wikipedia) 

[3]Cyprus comes in from the cold as tax havens feel the heat". Russia Today. 23 April 2009. Retrieved 2009-04-23.
[4]L. Kelly and A. Anishchuk (March 2013). Russia wants future involvement on Cyprus after "dangerous" levy Reuters. Retrieved 2013-03-18.